The AIDS epidemic, in particular, has caused medical personnel to take extreme precautions to avoid exposure to blood and other bodily fluids which might be infected. Doctors and dentists now wear rubber gloves and face masks in even the most routine situations, and various safety devices such as protective needles and so forth are being introduced with increasing frequency.
The removal of bandages and other wound dressings is an area where further safety measures are warranted. There are no composite wound dressings which integrate adhesive and absorbent layers in combination with a fluid impermeable cover. Instead, physicians routinely open a first sterilized pouch containing an absorbent pad and place that on the wound. Then rolls of sterilized tape are opened and, quite often, not only are the edges of the absorbent pad taped to the patient, but excessive tape is often used to cover the entire pad outer surface to ensure a fluid-tight seal. This is time consuming, and also results in multiple items requiring independent sterilization and considerable packaging waste.
The used bandages are discarded by placing them into specially marked bags which, in turn, are placed in specially marked disposal containers. This practice may expose associated personnel to dangerous pathogens since until such dressings are placed in their specially marked disposal containers, the surfaces once applied to the patient are outwardly unprotected. Also, there exists no consistent technique for placement within such bags, which may lead to contact with personnel during the process of insertion into the disposal bag or container.